This invention relates to a surgical closure device. This invention also relates to a surgical method utilizing the closure device. The closure device and associated method are particularly useful in laparoscopic surgery.
Laparoscopy involves the piercing of the abdominal wall and the insertion of a tubular port member through the perforation. Various instruments may be inserted through the tubular member to perform surgical operations inside the abdomen.
Generally, upon the disposition of the first tubular member so that it traverses the abdominal wall, the abdominal cavity is pressurized to distend the abdominal wall and provide a safety region between the wall and the body organs inside the cavity. Moreover, several perforations are made. One perforation receives a laparoscope which enables visual monitoring of organs and surgical activities inside the abdominal cavity. Other perforations serve for the insertion of different surgical instruments.
Laparoscopic surgery provides several advantages over conventional incision-based surgery. The laparoscopic perforations, in being substantially smaller than the incisions made during conventional operations, are less traumatic to the patient and provide for an accelerated recovery and convalescence. Hospital stays are minimized. Concomitantly, laparoscopic surgery is less time consuming and less expensive than conventional surgery for correcting the same problems.
Laparoscopic surgery frequently requires the temporary closure of perforations in internal organs and body tissues. Such closure is in some cases especially critical. For example, if a gall bladder is inadvertantly perforated during dissection thereof in laparoscopic surgery, bile is spilled, which potentially contaminates other organs and tissues in the abdominal cavity. It is imperative, therefore, that the perforation be closed immediately.
In a conventional technique for closing a perforated gall bladder, a clamp is attached to the organ at the perforation. A loop is then passed around the clamp and drawn shut. This technique is difficult and time consuming. Moreover, a significant quantity of bile generally escapes the bladder into the abdomen.
Another kind of surgery requiring closure of perforations in internal organs arises where a patient is a victim of violence. In such cases of trauma, it frequently happens that many organs have perforations through which blood flows at a high rate into the patient's abdominal cavity. The closure of such wounds must be effectuated as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimize blood loss and trauma to the patient.